Golden State Warriors

Steve Kerr's return is going to ruin Gregg Popovich's All-Star break

Published Jan. 22, 2016 7:26 p.m. ET

Jovan Buha

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr's return against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night has several consequences.

Kerr will assume his duties as commander-in-chief after missing the first 43 games of the season because of complications stemming from offseason back surgery, and will look to build off what the 39-4 Warriors have already achieved. Interim coach Luke Walton will take a backseat and return to his position as lead assistant coach. Warriors GM Bob Myers can stop feeling guilty about being so happy with this season's results.

And perhaps most hilarious of all, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich can partake in his favorite pastime: Coaching the Western Conference All-Star team.

A caveat in the NBA rulebook suggests that Kerr's return could spell torture for Popovich, who will now likely have to fly to Toronto for the 2016 All-Star Game instead of taking the weekend off for some much-needed rest.

The coaches whose teams have the best record in each conference earn spots in Toronto for the Feb. 14 game. But the NBA mandates that the same coach cannot coach the All-Star team two years in a row, regardless of record. That means that, no matter what, Kerr can't coach this year's West All-Star team.

But the rule is coach-specific, meaning that if Walton remained the Warriors' interim coach, he could have been the Western Conference coach. With Kerr back, though, that honor will fall to the coach of the team with the second-best record in the West: Pop and the Spurs.

The cutoff to determine the All-Star game coaches is Jan. 31, but with the Spurs leading the Oklahoma City Thunder by 5 1/2 games, and only trailing the Warriors by two losses, it seems almost certain that Popovich will coach the All-Star team, barring Kerr's back flaring up once again.

That would mark Popovich's fourth time coaching an All-Star team, and his third time since 2011.

Kerr jokingly said making Popovich miserable was part of his motivation in returning before the Jan. 31 deadline at his press conference on Friday, according to Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:

Interestingly enough, the Warriors and Spurs faceoff for the first time on Monday, Jan. 25 at Oracle Arena.